Archive for August, 2007

The little old lady from Pasadena ain’t got nuthin’ on THIS grandma!

{ August 28, 2007 @ 2:01 pm } · { Law School, Life in general }
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I’m in my favorite little coffee shop, eating my lunch and working on my case briefs for Thursday. I work in a small downtown area, so I get to see a wonderful array of folks walk by as I sit here. Added bonus – they always play some neat music. Today’s selection seems to be ‘The Best of Johnny Cash’. ;)

In any case, an elderly woman just zoomed by in her power wheelchair, with a little girl who looked to be about 2 on her lap. Both the little girl and her (assumed) grandmother just had the biggest grins on their faces as they rode by.

Awesome. :)

As a little FYI for anyone who is using Yeazell’s Civil Procedure 6th ed, this site has been quite helpful when writing my case briefs. They have briefs for all the cases in that book, and they’re fairly well done. And it’s free. Free = awesome.

*sigh* Back to work.

TGIF!

{ August 24, 2007 @ 4:43 pm } · { 1L, Law School }
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Seriously. I’m SO ready for the weekend.

This whole “weekend” thing is really an interesting concept. When I worked at home, I looked forward to the weekend, but I didn’t really crave it. Now that I’m working an office job I find that I REALLY crave the weekend. It’s not even the time off – it’s being home. I’m a huge homebody, and I really love just being home.

That, and I’ll admit – I hate taking showers. Before you freak and think that I’m a dirty hippie who only showers once a month, that’s not the case. I do shower daily, otherwise I feel icky. I just hate the necessity of showers. I don’t like getting wet, I don’t like having water on my face, and I don’t like having to face all that first thing in the morning. If I had my druthers I wouldn’t take a shower until noonish. (Which is what typically happened when I worked at home, and what still happens on weekends.)

For the record, I also don’t like swimming in lakes, pools, or oceans. I like LOOKING at the ocean – but I’d prefer not to have to touch it. I do enjoy hot tubs, but that’s because it tends to be a more recreational/community thing rather than merely for the purpose of getting wet. I also enjoy baths, but that’s a very self-contained warm, relaxing thing. And there’s usually bubble bath involved, which makes everything better.

In any case – I’m really, really looking forward to tomorrow. I can drink coffee and sit in my chair and read my casebook and generally be a putz. Weekends = ZOMG awesome.

In other news – I still love law school. Torts and CivPro are awesome classes – the professors are hard but fair. Legal Thinking, however, is going to cause me to go grey before my time.

Do you have a different opinion than the professor? You’re wrong.
Are you looking at the situation differently than the professor? You’re wrong.
Do you ask a question? You’re wrong.

And she speaks in such a bitchy, condescending tone of voice. I can handle difficult people, but condescending people make me want to slap them across the face. I could literally *feel the rage* in the pit of my stomach as I walked out of that class, and most of my classmates were in the same boat.

I’ve calmed down, though, and I’m trying to look at it as a positive exercise. I’m going to have to deal with bitchy, condescending people in the legal system – judges who think they’re better than me, other attorneys who are assholes, etc. So I’ll take this as a lesson in dealing with difficult people, and look forward to the end of the year. *moan*

Tonight – a night off, and then I want to try to get all the reading done for the upcoming week this weekend. I have to at least do Mon/Tues’ readings, and I found that on Wednesday night I was just too tired to concentrate, so I didn’t get a lot done. If I can do it all on the weekends, I think I’ll be better off.

Is it the weekend yet?

*yawn*

Yes, I will eat these words at the end of the semester.

{ August 21, 2007 @ 12:14 pm } · { 1L, Law School }
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I am quite certain that, by the end of the semester, I will absolutely, positively despise law school with an unholy passion. Every law student seems to.

But at this exact moment in time? I <3 law school. Seriously.

Last night was our first night of “real” classes. Over the course of the orientation period, the Dean of the night program had collected all of our email addresses, and had sent out a number of emails with either class assignments or directions on how to get the syllabus. Anyone who has done their law school homework (ie: if you’ve watched Legally Blonde!) should know that classes start fast and furious from day one. There’s no coddling period. They rip into you immediately, like the tasty fresh meat that you are.

Yet I would say that a good 25% of my fellow students had not done the readings before class last night. In all actuality, they should have done the readings for Monday and Tuesday nights over the weekend – because by the time we get done with classes at 9:30pm, it’s 10:30pm before we get home. Most of us still have full time jobs, which means we have to be at work at 8am. As soon as you get off of work you head off to class, when the fun starts all over again. So there’s really no time to catch up on homework between Monday and Tuesday’s classes. (Unless, like me, your boss takes another personal day and you’re in the office by yourself. CivPro, here I come!)

In any case – back to school. Our professors seem to use the Socratic Method, which is pretty typical for law schools across the board. (Again, if you had watched your Legally Blonde, you would have known this!) Yet there were a number of folks who had not read the assignment sheet, and a) didn’t have the little “who am I?” card the professor wanted filled out, and b) had not done the readings. So they got called, and didn’t have the answers. I can certainly understand not having quite the right answer the professor is looking for – this is our first foray into the Socratic method, and it can be a bit intimidating. But to not have done the reading? The mind, it boggles.

Legal Reasoning? ZOMG, I’m going to die. I know it. The professor speaks very slowly and carefully. I thought I was literally going to die of boredom. The risk with a class like that is that you zone out and miss stuff. At least when the professor is talking a mile a minute, you HAVE to pay attention.

I was very proud of myself in CivPro. I had done the reading, and thought I had a firm grasp on the case we were discussing – but the professor seems to want a LOT more detail in his briefs than I had done in my notes. (Good to know, guess what I’m doing this afternoon? *grin*) Once I realized what he was asking folks, I was able to skim through the case, make some notes, and when I got called I was able to answer and sound pretty much like I knew what I was talking about. Prepared, at least. It was a weird sort of adrenaline/euphoric feeling. Instead of feeling intimidated, it just made me want to go back and learn the cases better so that next time I’m called, I can do even *better*.

The Socratic method can be tough – but I found that it really helped cement the concepts in my head. And it mentally forces me to be prepared for class – since I’m a big weenie and don’t want to look bad in front of my classmates. Peer pressure can be a good thing, I guess. :)

Weekend Update

{ August 20, 2007 @ 10:05 am } · { 1L, Law School, Life in general }
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Saturday was – by all accounts – a very good day. I went down to school and signed up for my parking pass, bought some books, and got my student ID. Thankfully, the lines for all three of these things were minimal at best. I was done by noon – but not before spending obscene amounts of money on required books and study materials. I also picked up a little mini-Black’s Law Dictionary, which will live in my bookbag for emergency use. (I still prefer the lovely big one that a fellow law geek gifted me with last spring! *smooches*)

I’m still both amused and annoyed that during *six hours* of orientation, they couldn’t be bothered to tell us the more practical aspects of being new students.  We had to figure out things like parking passes, email addresses, student ID’s, and the like on our own.  I certainly understand the concept of being adults and being able to figure out all that yourself – but really, it would have taken them 10 minutes to say “You need to go here for ID’s, here for parking, and do this for your email address.”  Seriously.

On the plus side, we got our Lexis and Westlaw accounts on Thursday.  Oh, sweet, sweet Westlaw.  Total, 100% full access to Westlaw.  I’ve died and gone to legal geek heaven.  It’s sweet, sweet heaven.  Seriously.  I can’t even begin to tell you how totally awesome it is. *happy swoon*

I spent Saturday afternoon with friends and their 4 month old baby – which was beyond lovely. It’s been eons since I’ve had the chance to just hang out with folks, and we had a wonderful time just hanging out and chatting. I got to sample some of my friend’s wonderful home-baked bread, which is always a treat.  I figured it was worth my while I catch up with friends while I can, because Lord knows my time is going to be severely limited here very, very soon.

Went home, picked up the hubby, and had sushi for dinner. Cheap-ish sushi = love. We saw Blades of Glory at the dollar theatre, which was just beyond funny. That was the best $3 I have spent in AGES. We just *cackled* through the whole thing. I’m sure it helps that we both enjoy watching competitive figure skating, and I will admit that I have a weakness for Will Ferrell movies. I almost feel dirty saying that, but it’s true. ;)

In a “it’s a small world” moment, we ran into friends in the parking lot – turns out they saw the same movie, and were sitting three rows behind us. Too funny. We hung out in the parking lot and chatted while we waited for the crowds to disperse. That particular parking lot is not set up well, so it’s easier just to wait for everyone to leave before trying to fight your way out.

Sunday was first batch of homework for school. I’ve already found something that works well for me – I read the chapter from start to finish, and then go through it again, fashioning a rough outline and making notes on the cases. We’ll see if I’m able to keep this up through the semester – it’s a bit time consuming, but it helps me to type things out to get them into my head.  I need to get a better setup at home for study – I really wish I had room in “my room” for a desk.  I might have to take out the rocking chair I have in there and put a desk in instead, but it would be super-cramped.  I really do need a permanant place to spread all my stuff out, though.

Tonight is our first “official” class.  I’m looking forward to starting – we have Torts, CivPro and Legal Reasoning this semester.  I can already tell that CivPro is going to bore me to tears, but Torts is always interesting.  Legal Reasoning is nice, since it’s all writing assignments instead of a midterm/final exam, so that should be a relatively easy boost to the GPA.  Hopefully.

*dies of teh stupid*

{ August 16, 2007 @ 11:26 am } · { Work }
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I have a nasty, nasty feeling that one of our clients is going to be disappointed this afternoon. *rolls eyes*

We’re on the juvenile abused/neglected/dependent (or A/N/D, for short) list – which means that we represent either the father or the mother when the state feels it necessary to step in and modify someone’s parental rights.

We have one particular father who calls here on a semi-regular basis and insists that *everything is an emergency*. EVERYTHING. He called three times this morning in the space of two hours – each time I tried to take a message, each time he refused to give me a phone number and insisted that he would call back. The third time he called and asked when OddFellow would be in. Since OddFellow was scheduled to be in court all morning, I told him that he’d be back in this afternoon, and if I could take his phone number I’d have him call back. He said “I’ll be downtown this afternoon, just tell him to expect me.”, and hung up.

This is the guy who HAD an appointment earlier this week, and was a no-show.

o_O

OddFellow *is* returning phone calls this afternoon – but he has court at 2pm. Which means he’ll probably take lunch around 12:30pm. After court he has a couple of appointments out of the office. Which means that *I* will have the distinct pleasure of telling this gentleman that he came all the way down here for nothing – since he couldn’t A) leave a phone number, or B) make a proper appointment and actually *keep it*.

Laugh-a-minute around here, I tell you.

A law student!

{ August 14, 2007 @ 10:17 am } · { 1L, Law School }
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As of last night, I am a law student!

Last night was the first half of our two-part orientation session, in which various professors and deans pounded into our heads that we will have no life for the next four years.  Yes, that’s four years – my program is a PT, night program.  We attend school three nights a week for four years, including summer sessions.  Because it’s PT, though, I get to work – which means that my debt load will be minimal.  I’m also lucky enough to have a boss who recently went through law school himself – so he fully understands the stress involved, and is more than happy to work with my schedule.  He’s also *very* good about pushing me to do more than the average paralegal – so I’m already pretty adept at briefing, document drafting, etc.   Once the 3L rule goes into effect, he’s going to have me up in front of a judge as well – so that’ll be great experience.  Overall, I’m terribly lucky.

But – back to school.  Instead of going over practical things – like where to get our parking passes and how to sign up for the school’s email system – we were regaled with tales of horror about how we will have no life for the next four years.  I understand that they are trying to prepare us for the worst, but really – this wasn’t much different than what we went over at the “welcome session” a month ago.   I want practical things, dammit!  Just tell me where to park!

Ha – and then we had the “student introduction” section of the evening, where we went around the room and told a little about ourselves.  I live in an area known for it’s technology and medical fields, so we have a plethora of engineers, biologists, patent clerks, and other impressive-sounding jobs in our class.  Me?  I’ve been a working/starving artist for the past 7 years.  I got tired of not having health insurance.  I took paralegal classes because I thought it might be a career I’d enjoy.  I DID enjoy it – so I decided to go to law school.  Of course, I have the altruistic  reasons why I want to be an attorney.  I am still very much tapped into my artistic community, and so many of the people involved in that community can’t afford basic legal representation.  I want to give back to them, because so many of them have helped me out when I’ve been in a bind.  Based on  my paralegal classes and working in a small firm for the past year and a half, I really *enjoy* the practice of law.  I love the mental challenge involved, and I love the interactions with the clients.  I love hearing the stories.

But really, I’m 30.  I want to start a family.  I want a stable job with health insurance and a 401K.  When you’re a working/starving artist, you don’t get to have any of that.  So I decided to go to law school because it’s a career that interests me – but also because it’s a career that I should be able to stay gainfully employed in.

Ah well – I keep telling myself that all the engineers and geneticists in our class don’t have the experience I do.  I ran a small business for 7 years, I’ve interacted with some of the more fascinating subcultures in our society, and I know what it takes to succeed.  I’m used to working 70-80 hour weeks.  I’m tenacious.  I’m intelligent.  I’m creative.  I’ll be a good attorney.  Perhaps not a *traditional* attorney, but a good one, nonetheless.

Wish me luck. ;)